Moomin's Little Book of Words

Moomin Picture Books

by Tove Jansson

Discover Moomintroll's favorite first words as you share his busy day all the way to bedtime.

Moomintroll takes the youngest readers through a day in his life, building simple vocabulary along the way. From dancing to book-browsing, the scenes depicted echo favorite moments in a child's own day, ending on a bedtime note.

This adorable board book introduces babies and preschoolers to beloved characters from Swedish author-illustrator Tove Jansson’s beloved Moominworld. Every book celebrates curiosity and promotes Moomin’s core imagination, tolerance, humor, friendliness, and independence.

Look for these other Moomin board books!
Moomin’s Little Book of Numbers
Moomin’s Lift-the-Flap Hide and Seek
Moomin and the Birthday Button

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

16 pages, Board Book

First published August 24, 2010

About the author

Tove Jansson was born and died in Helsinki, Finland. As a Finnish citizen whose mother tongue was Swedish, she was part of the Swedish-speaking Finns minority. Thus, all her books were originally written in Swedish.

Although known first and foremost as an author, Tove Jansson considered her careers as author and painter to be of equal importance.

Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated her first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945), during World War II. She said later that the war had depressed her, and she had wanted to write something naive and innocent. Besides the Moomin novels and short stories, Tove Jansson also wrote and illustrated four original and highly popular picture books.

Jansson's Moomin books have been translated into 33 languages.

Reviews

[audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Calm and inoffensive enough to work for a friend's new baby.

[Natalie Rion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the picture concept book titled, "Moomin's Little Book of Words" written and illustrated by Tove Jansson. This short and colorful picture book had the main character, Moomin, illustrated with certain objects that represented the words written on the opposite page. For example, one word listed was "shell" and Moomin was illustrated collecting a basket of shells. I thought the book was short and sweet. I, again, loved the colorful illustrations and found the words to be simple enough for a younger child to understand. I would recommend this for beginning learner's.

[LesbeAnnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an easy and enjoyable read, but I couldn't help noticing a significant issue with the illustrations. There were several instances where the text used singular terms, yet the accompanying images depicted multiple items, suggesting the words should have been plural. This inconsistency left me hesitant to give a 5-star review, as it felt like a regrettable oversight in an otherwise pleasant experience.

[Jvermeersch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kleurrijk prentenboek om enkele woorden te leren: appel, beker, bloem, schelp, verf, boek, maan. Had er eerlijk gezegd meer van verwacht. Hoewel de tekeningen leuk zijn, nodigen ze niet speciaal uit om er meer over te vertellen aan een baby. Er zijn leukere Moeminboeken.

[Beck B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love moomin. I spotted this in a used book store and just had to pick it up. Just a short small simple baby book that shows a word on one page and shows moomin holding the object on the opposite side.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The colors are bright and eye-catching. The words are well chosen to elicit various sounds.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was maybe jumping the gun on Moomin...we might need to wait until they can enjoy the real thing.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a bit silly to provide a review for this one, but I'm trying to stay in the habit of writing a few comments on every book I finish. This is a simple, cute little board book with cheerfully bright illustrations that show Moomin interacting with specific words. My favorite is, of course, "book." That illustration's the main reason I'm keeping this while attempting to clean out my shelves.

I'm not sure why it's not a more of an alphabet book - it starts with "apple," moves to "cup," and ends with "book" and "moon" - but I suppose it's more about learning the words themselves than understanding the alphabet. (It makes me curious what the corresponding Moomin's Little Book of Numbers is like - does it skip from 1 to 3 and end with 2 and 13?)

[Katherine Cowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit, I've been a Moomin fan ever since I arrived at the airport in Helsinki, Finland and was greeted by a giant (if somewhat scary) white moomin who tried to give me candy. My Moomin exploits include reading several of the novels (which are excellent), visiting a Moomin store, and building a gingerbread Moomin church and cemetery at Christmastime. Admittedly, I was glad to see a basic Moomin book that I could use to introduce my daughter to the wonderful world of Scandinavian monsters.

[Marieke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Moomin's Little Book of Numbers, I have not read this with baby yet. My first thought is that the "story" doesn't hang together as well as the "story" in the number book. However, some of the objects show up in both books and I think I will read the Words book with baby first. The pictures are wonderful :)

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baby can identify (point to/touch) objects such as an apple, a cup, a flower, a shell, a book, and the moon. The object is pictured by itself on the left hand page and incorporated into a simple illustration of the right hand page. Baby can also play with color recognition as each double page spread is on a field of a different bright color -- blue, green, red, yellow, pink, and purple.

[Kristin Fletcher-spear · Rating 4 out of 5]

charlie liked this one more than I did.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging illustrations make this "introduce the word" book a great read. It's a good illustrator that makes a cup or a shell interesting.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My child loved the bright colors and I loved the simplicity.

[Andie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute! Great for babies, or kids just leaning their colors.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first books my daughter fell in love with.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was happy to see a Moomin board book at the library! This book is very simple (probably too simple for 22 months) but cute and colorful.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rowan loved this book. He's a bit old for it now, so we haven't read it in a while, alas. I flipped back through it today, and the memories are there (for now). It's a cute little book.

[Bam cooks the books]

A few simple words illustrated with happy pictures.